Saturday, April 16, 2011

Excerpt:The Detroit Public Library could close most of its neighborhood branches and lay off more than half of its workers because of an $11 million shortfall caused by plunging tax collections.

One month after laying off 80 workers, library administrators said deeper cuts are needed and outlined three options: Shut 18 of 23 branches and lay off 191 of the remaining 333 workers; 15 branches and 163 workers; or 12 branches and 135 workers.

Whatever course commissioners who oversee the system choose in May, residents in an economically challenged city with a functional illiteracy rate of 47 percent are likely to suffer.

"We are really running out of options to maintain the viability of the system," said Anthony Adams, a library commissioner. "I don't see too many ways to avoid not doing something draconian. Every day we don't act is a day we are digging a deeper hole for ourselves."

The proposed cuts are the latest casualty for a city struggling with plunging property values and population. Largely funded through a 4.63-mill property tax, the system faces a revenue shortfall of 20 percent per year until at least 2015, administrators estimate. The tax that generated $40 million in 2010 is expected to produce only $14 million by 2015.

The list of targeted branches stretches throughout the city and could force residents to drive several miles to one. The most severe option leaves the entire northeast side of Detroit without a branch. And that's outraged users who have been flocking to the system in part because of the economy. Visits rose 20 percent since 2007 to 4.9 million a year.

Excerpt:Reports are surfacing that Scott Walker is now preparing his next assault on the democratic political process in the State of Wisconsin.

Following the lead of Michigan GOP Governor Rick Snyder, Walker is said to be preparing a plan that would allow him to force local governments to submit to a financial stress test with an eye towards permitting the governor to take over municipalities that fail to meet with Walker’s approval.

According to the reports, should a locality’s financial position come up short, the Walker legislation would empower the governor to insert a financial manager of his choosing into local government with the ability to cancel union contracts, push aside duly elected local government officials and school board members and take control of Wisconsin cities and towns whenever he sees fit to do so.

Such a law would additionally give Walker unchallenged power to end municipal services of which he disapproves, including safety net assistance to those in need.

According to my sources, the plan is being written by the legal offices of Foley & Lardner, the largest law firm in the state, and is scheduled to be introduced to the legislature in May of this year.

Excerpt:“We are very excited to have this opening taking place today,” said Alison Weissinger, Acting Director of the DeKalb County Public Library, moments before the start of the dedication ceremony that marked the reopening of the Hairston Crossing Library on April 16.

“ I believe that the DeKalb County library system is one of the best in the nation,” Weissinger said in her remarks.

The newly refurbished library at 4911 Redan Road in Stone Mountain, which expanded from 4,000 to 18,000 square feet, sports a 53,000 volume collection and three meeting rooms including one which can hold up to 100 members of the public and a six-seat study/tutor room as well as a 12-seat conference room.

There are now 38 computers available for public use and 12 separate computers in a computer lab. The number of parking spaces has also increased to 90 from 20.

Excerpt:Town councilors Tuesday unanimously designated Town Manager Perry Ellsworth as the project manager for the new library’s construction and authorized him to sign a contract to begin its official design and development phase.

Ellsworth said Tuesday the town has been in the “conceptual/schematic phase” for several months now, and needed to now sign the $40,000 architectural services contract in order to actually move forward with the project and “narrow down” the final numbers associated with its cost.

“If we don’t get to this stage here, we won’t know what the final numbers will be,” he said. “We can’t ask contractors to bid without knowing the scope. We can’t do this until we get through this stage.”

Ellsworth said the plan is to have the construction document ready by May 15 so the town can solicit bids between May 15 and June 1 and receive the bids by mid-to-late June.

He said the town “likely won’t be ready to start” construction on July 1 as hoped, although he said they may be able to start on Aug. 1, and the plan is to still have the all exterior work and have the “building encapsulated… so it can survive the winter” by early fall.

The decision to proceed with the contract as well as Ellsworth’s appointment as project manager was met with public praise during Tuesday’s meeting.

Norma Tutelian, a resident and former town councilor, said before the meeting she welcomed both moves because the project has been lingering. Tutelian also made that stance known during the meeting through a brief public comment before the council took action.

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” she said. “Maybe it will get the ball rolling.”

Library science used to be the realm of career changers. Bookish types, having put in some years in the work world, would enroll in a graduate program with dreams of one day making a living surrounded by the noble hush of book stacks, card catalogs, and shelf upon shelf of reference tomes.

[snip]

Tomorrow’s librarians face a two-year graduate school curriculum freighted with technology courses that didn’t exist 10 years ago, courses that will likely be replaced by others within a year or two. The future of libraries is a constantly evolving digital landscape, and technical literacy, as it is in so many other fields, is absolutely essential to find a job in a brutal job market.

“Get as many technology skills as you can,’’ advises Jamie Cantoni, 26, of Cornwall, Conn., who’s in her final semester at GSLIS and has already been out in the job market. “What’s most shocking is when you go to apply for jobs how much they value strong technology skills. A master’s in library science is not enough to get a job anymore. You need a second master’s.’’

[snip]

GSLIS students can choose between two concentrations — Archives Management and the School Library Teacher Program — or remain generalists, which is what the majority of them do. They focus on careers as reference or catalog librarians, and Web masters, among other specialties.

While the core mission of librarians hasn’t changed — they are still committed to provide information to patrons who need it, wherever they are — most everything else has..

[snip]

“I teach preservation, and we need to make sure we keep information in digital form into the future,’’ says veteran library science teacher Ross Harvey. “It’s a new way of thinking. Think about the kind of information that people in the future will want access to, like digital photographs in jpeg. What guarantee is there that 100 years from now people will understand that file format?’’

The emphasis on technology begins early at the GSLIS. Every student must create a website and wiki page within the first six weeks. They cannot continue their studies until they complete these projects.

[snip]

One memorable event is the “PC autopsy’’ on the “corpse’’ of a dead computer that Johnson requires all of her students to complete. This means taking the machine apart. In groups of two or three, they disassemble it, taking out everything — from the hard drive to the memory card to the central processing unit.

“I want them to have the attitude they can jump right in and try a few things on their own to see if they can pinpoint where the problem is,’’ says Johnson.’’ The real challenge comes at the end where they have to put it back together again.’’

Some adults visit daily to read newspapers. Others go to the library to use the public-access Internet computers.

Teens drop in after school and walk downstairs to go to the Best Cellar, a space designed specifically for them. Families with young children also go to the library’s lower level to visit the children’s department or to participate in story time.

This week is National Library Week, and libraries throughout the nation are celebrating in special ways.

Waupaca’s library is once again holding Food for Fines Week and is also offering free replacement library cards to those who bring donations for the Waupaca Area Food Pantry.

"We have a very supportive community," said library director Peg Burington.

Library Board members and staff say using the room is necessary for library programs that draw too many people to conduct in the library.

City Administrator Tim Schuenke said city staff is concerned that the council chambers could be soiled or damaged as a result of children's programs. The meeting room includes new carpeting, padded chairs and an extensive electronic system.

Alderman Gerald MacDougall argued the library should conduct programs that require more meeting space in the Fish Hatchery, about a half-mile from the Civic Center. McDougall asserted that the library and its patrons were "guests" of the city, and the civic center was built for conducting city business, not providing meeting space for library programs that include non-city residents.

"I think our Library Board is opening up the use of council chambers to residents of the nine surrounding communities (that also use the library), and I think that is fundamentally wrong," MacDougall argued.

Alderman Jeff Krickhahn, who is also chairman of the Library Board, strenuously objected to McDougall's use of the term "guests." Krickhahn said that the Library Board and the Plan B Committee, which crafted the initial conceptual design for the civic center, struck a compromise that would allow the library to conduct programs that required larger meeting space in the Common Council chamber.

Alderman Erv Sadowski noted that voters had rejected two referendums seeking to build a bigger facility.

Excerpt: With a stack of magazines in hand Friday, Joann Kleiber was ready to sit down, relax and read a few Reader's Digest articles and perhaps glean tips from Good Housekeeping.

Kleiber, 64, of Wausau also planned to grab a few novels from the Marathon County Public Library's Wausau branch to "lighten up a little" from the nonfiction she usually reads. It's a trip she makes two or three times a week, part of a retirement goal of spending more time at the library.

"It's just a great place to come," she said.

Kleiber is one of thousands of patrons who helped push the library's March checkout total to 106,780 -- the second-highest in the library's 38-year history, and not far behind the June 2010 record of about 115,000 items borrowed from the system's nine branches.

Yet the record checkouts coincide with perhaps the greatest threat to library funding in at least five years with efforts to cut state and local deficits.

Mike O'Connor, reference librarian at the Wausau branch, said the library traffic shows no signs of declining. Spring break makes March one of the busiest months, along with June and July, and library employees are projecting a 6 percent to 7 percent increase this month over the 89,000 items checked out in April 2010.

Excerpt: As he prepares to take office Tuesday, Mayor-elect Paul Soglin is already taking action — moving to ensure outside funds are secure before rebuilding the Central Library, suspending the process of putting Overture Center workers in other city jobs, and shuffling alder committee assignments.

Soglin said Friday he wants to make sure $8 million in private fundraising and $4 million in federal tax credits are guaranteed before going to bid on the $29.5 million library reconstruction.

The mayor-elect said the city had to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in private fundraising that never materialized for recent improvements at Lisa Link Peace Park on State Street, and doesn't want to repeat that outcome with the library.

"It certainly cannot happen when we are faced with the emerging budget challenges of next year," he said.The Library Foundation is only beginning its formal fundraising campaign, and it's unclear if Soglin's approach would cause a delay. Final land use approvals are expected in May and construction is supposed to start in the fall.

"My hope is that we get though this and private fundraising kicks into high gear and we don't have a substantial delay," said Ald. Mike Verveer, 4th District, who represents the core Downtown.
Library Board President Tripp Widder could not be reached Friday.

Soglin stressed he's not out to delay or stop the project, but wants to be financially responsible. If most of the money is pledged or raised, it may be possible to move forward under existing time lines, he said.

Guess I'd feel better if Soglin came right out and said that a new Central Library was a top priority for Madison.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Excerpt:Things are moving quickly as the Big Rapids library renovation team met for the second time. Of the three committees that make up the renovation team, Layout, has already put together a request for qualification packet that will be sent out to architectural and engineering firms who might be interested in the renovation project.

Library Director Helena Hayes says she’s “been contacted by three different groups in the last week, of organizations and firms, who have heard we are going to do this, so the word is getting out.” The other committees, fundraising and communications, gave status updates as well. The next library renovation team meeting is scheduled for 4PM April 27th at City Hall.

Excerpt: The rumor that the Grand Marais Public Library will close for five months while renovation and new construction is going on is false. However, according to Librarian Linda Chappell, they are looking for an alternative site to be able to continue business as usual.

Chappell told WTIP’s Jay Andersen on “Daybreak” Friday morning, noise, dust and renovation in the old part of the library necessitates a move. Library board members made the decision earlier in the week, but they don’t yet know where their temporary quarters will be.

Excerpt:The world of retail electronics has changed drastically over the years. It used to be that most people were going to retail stores to make a purchase. Today, many people go into a retail store to see how a device works and research an item, then go home to purchase it online. The reasons for this are many, but much lies with the lower price that many gadgets can be found for online.

The largest consumer electronics retailer left in the U.S. is Best Buy. Best Buy is still facing stiff competition on the market with Wal-Mart, Target and other discount chains selling more electronics than they did in years past. Best Buy currently operates a number of large stores that its calls “big boxes”. These stores range anywhere from 20,000 square feet to 58,000 square feet.

According to Best Buy, these stores have huge overhead and are "white elephants" in the industry. The retail chain is looking to cut the amount of space and overhead these stores have by about 10% over the next several years. This comes after three straight quarters of same-store sales decline and a forecast for more declines in sales. The blame is placed on the Best Buy’s ailing TV business.

Excerpt:A couple was caught having sex at a children’s library on Tuesday.

ImaginOn is a library and a children's theater. Hundreds of children visit the venue every day.

Police say a 20-year-old man and 18-year-old woman were caught having sex in the teen lounge around 3 p.m. Tuesday. The lounge is not walled off and there isn’t anything to keep kids from walking into the area. Fortunately, there were not any children in that area when the incident happened.

Officials with ImaginOn responded to questions about the incident with a brief email response.

"First, no children or members of the public witnessed the incident – the only witnesses were a Mecklenburg County Security officer and a Library staff member. The incident was discovered by the security officer as part of a regular patrol, and was handled quickly, appropriately and professionally in accordance with security procedures.

The couple has been banned from all Charlotte Mecklenburg libraries, though the article does not state for how long.

Excerpt:A group of Jersey City City Council members today said they would not support Mayor Jerramiah Healy's proposed $477 million 2011 municipal budget unless he restored a roughly $300,000 cut to the Jersey City Free Public Library.

For the past three City Council meetings, numerous residents have pleaded with the council not to implement the cut, saying it would lead to library closures and more reduced hours.

The council members seeking a restoration of proposed library cuts include Councilman David Donnelly, Councilman Steven Fulop, Councilwoman Nidia Lopez and Councilwoman Viola Richardson.

Their joint statement came after last night's admission by Business Administrator Jack Kelly that the city is expecting additional revenue that it did not include in the municipal budget, including an $800,000 Medicaid reimbursement.

Excerpt:The Twin Lakes Sewer, Health and Environment, Youth and Library Committee agreed Wednesday to seek an opinion from the state Department of Public Instruction about the viability of starting a village library.

Seeking the opinion is a requirement if the village decides it wants to separate from the joint Community Library, explained village administrator David Cox. He was speaking at a committee meeting Wednesday evening at Village Hall.

However, the village will not be bound to follow the opinion’s findings.

Despite extensive discussion on the subject of separating from the multiple municipality Community Library, the committee did not settle on a recommendation to the Village Board about the larger issue of whether to separate from the joint district. Trustee Thomas Connolly, a member of the committee, said he did not favor a separation. Trustees Aaron Karow and Mike Moran, the other members of the committee, were less committal in their comments, though both seemed to see scenarios where they would support separation.

Excerpt: Gov. Scott Walker said he gave cities the tools to deal with proposed cuts in state shared revenue, but Janesville City Manager Eric Levitt said those tools would help the city make up only about 34 percent of what Janesville would lose in state aid.

And some of the tools can't be used in Janesville.

"We're getting cut a lot more than getting savings," Levitt said.

Walker proposed eliminating most collective bargaining rights of public employees so local governments could save money to make up for cuts in state aid. The bill also requires public employees to pay half their pension contributions.

"The argument that the state is talking about, we get 100 percent savings for 100 percent in reduction," Levitt said.

But because of union contracts now in place, Janesville wouldn't be able to make up even 34 percent of state aid reductions, Levitt said.

Some of the numbers.

Janesville's shared state aid payments have dropped 19% since 2003, from $6.3 million to $5 million.

The city is looking at another cut in state shared aid of $1.1 million in 2012.

Recycling funds: A loss of $328,000 in 2012 and the possibility of a $128,000 cut this year.

Transit. A $72,000 cut.

City Manager Eric Levitt foresees a $2.9 million gap in the 2012 city budget. (7% of $42 million.)

Excerpt:At a time when the governor's plan to eliminate most collective bargaining for teachers and increase state employees' payments for health care and pension costs looms overhead, some school districts are seeing record numbers of senior teachers such as Scharrer-Erickson turn in their retirement paperwork.

Although their pensions are beyond the reach of lawmakers and local officials, many teachers fear that changes could mean they soon could lose early retirement benefits such as health insurance that helps support them until they are eligible for Medicare.

Some districts, such as Oshkosh, Appleton and Madison, have extended their retirement deadlines to Friday. Preliminary figures reported by Oshkosh and Appleton showed a large increase in the number of teachers filing retirement paperwork. Oshkosh's 37 staff retirements is double last year's number and the highest since the district started tracking in 1994. Appleton already had seen 70 retirements from teachers and others in their bargaining group this week, up 29 from last year.

Mequon-Thiensville's retirements just about tripled from last year: 28 teachers by the Feb. 14 deadline vs. 10 last year. Green Bay also saw three times as many retirements this year compared with last: 140 teachers and 15 administrators, according to a spokeswoman.

The results are double-edged for school districts: While the retirements mean the loss of years of classroom experience and cherished professionals, they also could help districts avoid layoffs in what is expected to be a tough fiscal year and even save money by replacing some of their highest-paid employees with teachers who receive lower salaries.

For many seasoned educators, it's a decision wrought with emotion: leave a job you enjoy to secure retirement benefits under your current contract or continue to work and take a gamble on what the union can secure for you in future agreements.

School districts aren't alone. The Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds reports heightened interest in retirements among all the state's public employees.

Excerpt:There are several counties in America, each with more than 10,000 homes, which have vacancy rates above 55%. The rate is above 60% in several.

Most people who follow unemployment and the housing crisis would expect high vacancy rates in hard-hit states including Nevada, Florida and Arizona. They were among the fastest growing areas from 2000 to 2010. Disaster struck once economic growth ended.

Palm Coast, Florida, Las Vegas, Nevada and Cape Coral, Florida were all among the former high fliers. Many large counties which have 20% or higher occupancy rates are in these same regions. Lee County, Florida, Yuma County, Arizona, Mohave County, Arizona, and Osceola, Florida each had a precipitous drop in home prices and increases in vacancy rates as homebuyers disappeared when the economy went south.

Data from states and large metropolitan areas do not tell the story of how much the real estate disaster has turned certain areas in the country into ghost towns. Some of the affected regions are tourist destinations, but much of that traffic has disappeared as the recession has caused people to sell or desert vacation homes and delay trips for leisure. This makes these areas particularly desolate when tourists are not around.

Stubbe also said the 62 percent "vacancy rate" reported in the 2010 Census was made up almost entirely of homes that "are seasonal, owned and used frequently by part-time residents," even though part-time residents aren't counted in the census.

Whoever researched and wrote the Wall Street 24/7 article -- and there is no byline -- deserves a break today. And tomorrow......

"I know there are still some people interested in that down in Madison. We may be pursuing that," Hanna said on Thursday. "We talked to some legislators who are interested, and they even happen to be Republicans."

"It's creating a bigger space for the kids. We've got about enough room now, but there's no room for expansion," said library Director Erica Pyle.

The project is adding about 40 percent more space to the children's area. The addition will connect the children's room to a study room next door. Brighter carpeting, more accessible shelves and comfortable furniture will also be installed.

Construction started April 4.

It's the latest in a series of renovations paid for by the Friends of the Library, a fundraising group that supports the North Metter Avenue facility. Money came through the estate of Ruth E. Kurgeleis, a longtime library patron. (The private group won't say how much construction costs.)

The project will give the children more space and more light, said Kathleen Habermehl, a longtime member and leader of the Friends of the Library. "The adult part of the library is well taken care of," Habermehl said.

Excerpt:Milwaukie City Council is looking for a pair of citizens and a local business person to join a task force that will assist City staff and the Library Board to stimulate a broad-based discussion of the community need for library facilities, the options available for expansion, and the process needed to pursue potential locations and funding. The task force will help the City determine how to utilize one million dollars of capital funds that will be available in 2012 from the Library District of Clackamas County to address space needs.

Excerpt: Four months into its $1.3 million-dollar face-lift and expansion, the Shawnee branch of the Louisville Free Public Library is awash in construction activity — a full-on work in progress.

No matter. Shawnee's staff isn't letting a little construction come between them and the area children they want to see fall in love with reading.

Since December, when the branch at 3912 W. Broadway closed for the work, children's librarian Katy Grant and teen library assistant Lynette Ruby have visited more than 100 schools and day care centers. They've held programs for more than 3,400 children, teens and parents promoting the joy of reading.

During her visits, Grant, who is temporarily assigned to the Main branch downtown, plays games with children that promote reading retention and explore different reading genres.

The Covington branch is 37 years old and the oldest of the system’s three branches. When the building was built, it wasn’t wired for computers. Its roof is original and must be replaced. Stairwells will be updated to current standards, and fire suppression sprinklers will be installed. The heating and air conditioning system also will be updated, and the library’s space will be expanded to accommodated increased use.

Excerpt:The library needs more room and Clay County Commissioners gave the OK to beginning planning an expansion.

Clay County Library Board members Mary Katherine West and Leslie Carter made the request to commissioners Thursday, April 7. A donation bequeathed to the library by a patron will be used to pay for the expansion.

County permission to proceed was needed because the county owns the building that houses the Moss Memorial Library, Clay County manager Paul Leek said.

Plans are only preliminary at this time, but involve adding a single story addition to the back of the building, librarian Mary Fonda said. This was part of an earlier expansion in 1998 that had to be cut because of higher than expected supply costs.

Excerpt:The sales-only window got its start in January 2010, when Netflix and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced an unprecedented deal. Netflix would delay renting the studio's newly released movies and then would use the money saved from purchasing new releases to acquire more content for its streaming-video service. Redbox soon agreed to honor a sales-only window and two other Hollywood film studios, NBC Universal and 20th Century Fox, also adopted similar windows.

The windows were designed to help protect sales of DVDs as well as Blu-ray discs, a physical format that is still growing. Overall disc sales for the entire industry, however, have declined for several years. Much of the problem can be traced to consumer tastes, which are shifting toward rental rather than ownership.

A year after the Netflix-Warner deal was struck, some retailers say they're encouraged by the results. If the trend continues, Netflix might be able to use the sales-only window to pen similar agreements with other TV and film companies and that could help the company acquire more streaming content. In many tech circles, the thinking is that the Web will become a dominate means for film distribution.

The transition from physical discs to the Internet, however, will not occur over night, according to John Marmaduke, CEO of Hastings Entertainment, a retail chain that sells books, DVDs, and CDs out of 146 stores in 21 states. He said there's still big demand for physical media, he said.

Excerpt:The Barbour Street branch of the city's public library hasn't been renovated since it moved to its current location in 1974, library officials said. The furniture is old-fashioned and the sign out front sports an outdated logo.

But thanks to an anonymous donor, the branch is getting a facelift.

The library's location at 281 Barbour St. shut down Saturday for renovations and will remain closed until April 25. Its walls and shelves will be repainted, its furniture updated and the sign in front will be redesigned.

Matthew K. Poland, the library's chief executive officer, said the branch came up in a conversation some months ago. The library received an anonymous donation to improve it not long afterward, he said.

"We were very surprised," Poland said. "Barbour would not have come up on the radar this year [for improvements], but with this donation we're able to renovate."

The renovations will cost about $15,000, and more than half will be covered by the donation. The rest will be paid for with money from the library's operating budget, Poland said.

Roughly 34,000 people visit the Barbour branch every year. The 1,775-square-foot facility — one of 10 Hartford Public Library locations — rents books, CDs and DVDs. It also has eight public computer stations.

Its furniture and décor have not kept up with the advances in its materials, however. The branch still has "very traditional, heavy library furniture" dating back to the 1970s, Poland said.

"It's not flexible or easy to move, and it's not compatible with our computers," he said. "We're replacing it with more modern, contemporary office furniture."

Excerpt:Thank your local librarian — again — for standing up for free and easy access to books.

This time, librarians have figured out a way to save a couple of crucial programs while also complying with the governor's proposed budget cuts. One of the programs, "Connecticar," allows patrons to go to their local library and request a book from any other library in the state. It turns even the smallest local facility into a powerful regional library, helping out users who may not have access to a lot of materials locally.

The companion "Connecticard" program allows card-holders to check a book out of any public library in the state, which means you can go to the library in the town where you work, for example, to pick up a book or DVD on your lunch hour — and later return it to your hometown library.

Librarians have told state legislators they will find other cuts — about $1 million — so they can keep the popular programs running. In one of his less-than-brilliant budget cuts, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had proposed eliminating them.

Connecticard had nearly 300,000 users last year, borrowing nearly 5 million library items. Under Connecticar, a high school student, for example, could request research materials from another library and have them delivered to his hometown. The program makes 175 pickups and drop-offs every day.

Among some major announcements made Wednesday at the Friends of the Library annual meeting is the decision Hall made to leave the Winnefox Library System's computer consortium in 2012 because it has become cost prohibitive. Fees amount to more than $100,000 a year, he said.

"We will remain a member of the Winnefox system, just not the consortium. We simply can't afford it," he said.

He said comparable libraries, like Mead Public Library in Sheboygan, pay about $10,000 a year as members of a different state library system — Eastern Shores. The difference in cost, he noted, is in the way the two library systems use funding.

"We are in negotiations with Eastern Shores, but it will come down to cost. We will need to pay more than if we are a member of the system. If we can't afford it, we will act as a stand-alone system," he said.

Link to City of Sheboygan 2011 budget. (Mead Public Library found on pages 39-43.